Astronomy Visualization The State of the Art 207 th American Astronomical Society Meeting Washington, DC January 11, 2006 STScI Public Lecture Series February

Astronomy VisualizationThe State of the Art

207th American Astronomical Society Meeting

Washington, DC

January 11, 2006

STScI Public Lecture Series

February 7, 2006

Astro-Viz Special Session

• Frank Summers, John Stoke

• Bryan Preston, Lucy Albert, Faith Abney

• Call for Viz – 46 submissions

• Jury Duty

• DVD – 40 visualizations, 2 hours

• Session – 9 visualizations

Scientific Visualization in the

Age of Buzz Lightyear,

Yoda, and Gandalf

Hollywood vs Academia• Simulation• Illustrate point• Complex physics• Simple geometry• Simple lighting• Simple camera• No compositing• Exact / approximate• Intellectual• Left brain• Accuracy

• Animation• Tell story• Simple physics• Complex geometry• Complex lighting• Complex camera• Heavy compositing• Whatever looks good• Emotional• Right brain• Aesthetics

Fantasy Verité

Inspiration

Illustration

Intuition

Intuition

Flying Through Valles Marineris

Dana Berry

Skyworks Digital Animation

“Valles Marineris”

Animation Case StudyAnimation by Dana Berry and Kees Veenenbos

Executive Producers Paul Gasek, Ann Druyan and Steve Burns

The Cosmic Background

• Production began in 1978 through 1979 at a cost of $8.7 Million by KCET Los Angeles.

• 13 Episodes first broadcast in 1980.• Audience eventually reached well over half a billion

viewers in 60 countries. • The series won both Emmy and Peabody Awards.• The spinoff book from the series spent 70 weeks in

the New York Times best seller list, including 15 weeks as the number 1 best seller.

• Proved that art and science can peacefully coexist.

The Cosmic Background• Several iterations exist.

– Tenth Anniversary edition, with an epilogue added in which Sagan updates the science of each show.

– 20th Anniversary edition was released with some updated imagery.– The Arts and Entertainment Channel scheduled to broadcast 20th

anniversary edition on the evening of September 11, 2001. Consequently the show was shelved and never aired.

– The Discovery Channel arranged with rights owner Ann Druyan and SkyWorks Digital to recut each show and swap out nearly all of the graphics.

– Series aired on the Discovery Science Channel in fall of 2005 and will be repeated in 2006. The fall broadcast increased the size of the Science Channel’s audience 6-fold. No plans for DVD distribution.

The Task:

• PBS non-commercial format 58 minutes to be edited for commercial 44 minute format: 14 minutes to be trimmed from each show.

• Prune scientifically outdated portions of the show. • Swap original graphics and animation with newer,

more scientifically correct visualizations.• Produce 164 new animations 5 months within small,

finite budget.• Minimize impact on other concurrent in-house

productions.

Valles MarinerisGraphics Update Case Study

• 3 kinds of science visualization:

– Data visualization, simulation: reveals information hidden within a data set.

– Pedagogical animation: teaches us something.

– Experiential animation. Emphasizes emotion, drama and art. Cosmos animation is experiential.


• Make decision to replace existing studio model footage.• Plan production strategy and choose production tools.

– Storyboards– Source images– Division of labor

• Build accurate 3D model of Valles Marineris Topography.• Add correct color for ground, lighting and atmospherics. • Choreograph Camera Move.• Develop Render Strategy.


Original fly-through was generated from a studio model. (Don Davis, Adlolf Schaller, Rick Sternbach, John Allison, Justin Segal) In its day this was state-of-the-art special effects.

Camera begins at high altitude and descends into the valley.


• New Animation was totally data driven MOLA data projected into a deformation plane.

• Camera move roughly follows original studio model shot.


Tools Used:Terragen V1 – Generate framesAfter FX – Compositing, noise reduction, motion blur and

color correction

Resources Used: Mars Global Surveyor MOLA data set for topographyRendering Hardware: one 3.6mhz Sony and four 3.2mhz

Hewlitt Packards (Average render time 46 minutes per frame, 3,000 frames. (cpus spent 1 month rendering this shot in hi-def).


• The Deformation Map, (right) where the deeper the hole, the darker the gray tone. Image on the left shows the deformation map projected and shaded.


• Camera Path roughly the same as original, except the camera spins around to look back as we rise above the canyon.


General look of the sequence has more earthlike feel. The canyon feels broader, wider than in the original version.


• The MOLA data was not high enough resolution to sustain illusion as camera approached the ground.

• Soft fractal noise added to MOLA data to help sustain illusion.• Final render showed jitter problems caused by the fractal noise.• Solution to jitter was painful: cut fractal noise down to .001% of

its original value, scale up original render by 200% and scale it back down and add motion blur in After Effects.

Cosmos, 25th Anniversary

“Evolution is a fact, not a theory.”

-Carl Sagan

Show 2, One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue

Strange New Worlds

Robert Hurt

Spitzer Science Center

The Art of Science• Artist’s Concepts Are Powerful

Communications Tool– A picture can help explain complex result at a glance

– A movie can tell more in short clip

– Aesthetic appeal can stimulate interest to read more

• Developing the Concept– Identify key science themes of result

– Artist, PA rep, & PI discuss visualization

• Converge on single image to tell story

• Develop “bullet list” of science results for image

• Ongoing artist/scientist interaction can speed convergence on final product

Case Study:Transiting Planets

• The Data:– Graph of light curve

from two stars showing dip when planet passes behind star

• The Story:– First light ever

directly detected from extrasolar “hot Jupiter” worlds


• Goal for the animation:– Visually explain the significance of the data graphs

• Science Bullet Points:– Planet is close to star, Jupiter-sized but very different from

Jupiter– Visible light: only reflected light from sun– Infrared light: planet is self-luminous– Improved viewing contrast in the infrared– Geometry of the transiting system: we see planet pass

behind star– Dip in light curve implies we see light from planet (blended

with light from the star)


• First Sequence:– “Dramatic” shot showing system.– Start in familiar visible light, then transition to infrared view– Show best-guess infrared “color”– Planetary atmosphere derived from atmospheric simulation of “hot

Jupiters”

• Second Sequence:– Maintain infrared view through movie– Start with familiar overhead view with orbit for reference– Pivot down to our line-of-sight, drop orbit once the geometry is

clear– Overlay time-synchronized graph as planet passes behind star

Galactic Center Fly-in

Andrew Hanson

Indiana University, Bloomington

Priscilla Frisch

University of Chicago

2006 AAS Washington DC

Galactic Center Fly-In

Astronomy: Navigating to Compact Radio Source Sgr A* at Center of Milky Way

Galaxy

Computer Science: Correctly Visualizing Galactic Scenery across Huge Scales

Andrew Hanson (Indiana University)Priscilla Frisch (University of Chicago)

AAS, Washington DC, January 2006


Galactic Center Data Cover an Immense Spatial and Spectral Range

•Task: Zoom in from 8 kpc to 3 Light Days away from the Galactic Center Black Hole.

–Spatial scale: Over 6 orders of magnitude–Spectral scale: Radio to IR to X-Ray

1010 A (90 cm) 105 A (20 m) 1 A (10 keV)


Zoom from 8 kpc Solar Distance to 3 Light Days

away from the Black Hole at the Galaxy Center

Axel Mellinger Milky WayGalaxy Montage (many kpc)


Align Infrared, X-ray, Radio Images with uncertain common point sources and very

different scales


Rosetta Stone Images needed for Alignment when Point Sources Lacking

•Hard to match diffuse object locations•Exact pointing hard to get for large FOV images•IPAC gallery has Combined 2MASS-MSX image R=MSX 6-11 m, G=2MASS Ks, B=2MASS J.• MSX Image: R=21 m, G=13 m m•Chandra gallery image has RGB radio, infrared, X-ray image: 21 m -> 90 cm -> 10 keV


2MASS-MSX(IPAC gallery)

MSX(IPAC gallery)

X-ray,Radio, MSX

(Chandra gallery)


Task: Cross Register Diverse Data Sources

•Match both diffuse and pointlike objects•Align small subimages deep inside enclosing images•Match coordinate system and epoch•Adapt computer graphics methods to 6+ order-of-magnitude• Flyin: final pixel is 1/millionth of the starting pixel


Cross-RegistrationSolution Example

DustyBowshock (Keck)

Ionized GasMinispiral (VLA) Galactic Center

(Paranal)

Dusty Bowshock(Keck)


VISUALIZATION AS A TOOL TO UNCOVER THE SCIENTIFIC CONTEXT OF THE

GALACTIC CENTER

SYNOPSIS: This is a pedagogically stimulating exercise because data are embedded in their full multispectral and multiscale context, creating a rich landscape marked by galactic landmarks derived from all colors of the spectrum.

Acknowledgments: NASA grants NAG5-8163, NAG5-11999, NAG5-13558. Many individuals helped with the galactic center science, including Tom Geballe, Mark Morris, Mark Reid, and Andrea Ghez.

Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time

Frank Summers

Space Telescope Science Institute

GOODS CDFS

GOODS CDFS

32,195 pixels

19,464 pixels

627 M pixels

ResolutionsTV / VGA 640 x 480 300 k

XGA 1024 x 768 800 k

HDTV 1920 x 1080 2.1 M

WFPC2 1600 x 1600 2.6 M

Dome < 3800 x 3800 < 14.4 M

ACS WFC 4096 x 4096 16.7 M

Viz Wall 5120 x 4096 21 M

IMAX 5616 x 4096 23 M

Sombrero 11,472 x 6429 74 M

GOODS 32,195 x 19,464 627 M

Dimensions Total Pixels

Image Cleaning

Image Cleaning

Image Cleaning

Galaxy Cut-outs

Galaxy Cut-outs

• 11,392 galaxies with image & redshift

• 3D Model– texture mapped

planes, sized for distance

– always face camera

– transparency proportional to brightness

Data Pipeline

Culling, crossmatch (perl)

Crop, clean, alpha(perl, IRAF, C)

Galaxy Images

RedshiftSourceData

ImageSourceData

SourceSegmentation

Map

GOODS Images

GalaxyData

Data to Visualization

• Test in Maya• Save as ASCII• Edit• Shortcuts

• Galaxy script• Command script• Camera script• About a million lines

of MEL

GalaxyData

3D modelling(perl)

MEL Scripts

Galaxy Images

Maya

Camera tracks in x, y and z Dots are keyframe positions

Visualization Wall

Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time

Best Short Film 2004Large Format

Cinema Association

Klemperer’s Dream

John Dubinski

University of Toronto

Gravitas ProjectScience and Art Collaboration

John Dubinski - astronomy/simulationsJohn Kameel Farah - composer/pianist

Goal: Express the beauty of the dynamic universe usinganimations from supercomputer simulations accompanied by original music. The idea is to inspire people on many levels including the scientific, educational, artistic, musical and spiritual.

Project Components

• Website - www.galaxydynamics.org– Downloadable animations with detailed descriptions

• Gravitas DVD - 9 animations - 45:00 runtime– Structure formation, galaxy interactions, galaxy clusters,

star clusters, some 3D animation, scientific and artistic narration (optional), educational booklet

• Live solo performance by John Farah with visuals by JD - 3 shows so far in Toronto with more planned

Plans for 2006

• Many new animations planned with improved numerical resolution plus new material

• HD format resolution

• HD-DVD/Blu-ray version

• Digital Dome/IMAX format animations…

• More live performances

Please check out: www.galaxydynamics.org

Mapping the Universe with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Mark SubbaRao

Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum and University of Chicago

Who are we?Who are we?

What are we trying to visualize?What are we trying to visualize?

Visualization:Dinoj Surendran Mark SubbaRaoDaniela Rosner

Advisors:Randy LandsbergJoshua Frieman

Music:Dan MohrTaylor AuneColin BischoffJay CrosbyJoaquin Viera

How is it used?How is it used?

Sloan Digital Sky Survey• Large Scale Structure• Survey Process

• Interactive stereoscopic presentations• Stereoscopic movie in Adler’s 3D theater• Full-dome Planetarium shows

Jose Francisco Salgado

Dan Dry

COSMUS: KICP (U. of Chicago) + Adler Planetarium

Year 1

Year 5Year 4

Year 3

Year 2

SDSS

Immersion vs. Context(Immersion vs. Context(LODLOD))

Tools:Tools:Partiview - Stuart Levy

for the visualization

Final Cut Profor video editing

Story:Story:

flythrough -> control room

telescope->flythrough-> control room

Viz Details:Viz Details:• > 500,000 objects• Comoving distance• 104 galaxy images matched to spectral type• Size scaled up ~ factor of 50• Orientations are random

Jurek Krzesinski

Flight Through the Millenium Simulation

Simon White

Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

Flight through the Millennium Simulation

Volker Springel & Simon D.M. White Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik

Washington D.C., January 2006

Millennium Run Statistics

● Particle number: N = 21603 = 10,077,696,000 1010

● Box size: L = 500 Mpc/h, Softening: ε = 5 kpc/h L/ε = 105

● Initial redshift: zinit

= 127

● Cosmology: Ωtot

=1, Ωm=0.25, Ω

b=0.045, h =0.73, n=1, σ

8=0.9

● 343,000 processor-hours on 512 nodes of an IBM Regatta (28

machine days @ 0.2 Tflops using 1 Tbyte RAM)

● Full raw and reduced data stored at 64 redshifts

27 Tbytes of stored data A testbed for studying galaxy formation models

Springel et al 2005: The Virgo Consortium

Visualizing the Millennium

● Need to be faithful to the available linear dynamic range (~106)

Zoom by a factor of ~1000

● Need to (adaptively) filter out discreteness noise

Define a local (SPH) smoothing

kernel in 3-D Use to assign

densities to image pixels

● Encode scientific information using both colour and intensity

e.g. intensity for mass/luminosity

density colour for

velocity dispersion/B – V colour

● Use motion to convey 3-D structure

z = 0 Dark Matter

z = 0 Galaxy Light

Documents

Astronomy Visualization The State of the Art 207 th American Astronomical Society Meeting Washington, DC January 11, 2006 STScI Public Lecture Series February